


Following, Following

by trulyguks



Category: Free!
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 11:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4219413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trulyguks/pseuds/trulyguks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I've followed you around for years, but maybe..</p>
            </blockquote>





	Following, Following

It was raining the day she had met him. Stuck under a convenience store’s roof with no umbrella, she almost laughed out loud thinking about how fairytale-like it would be if an overly kind prince with a blinding smile saved her from her distress. “This seems like the setting for the first scenes in a movie.”

Life was funny, because it sent her the very same prince she was thinking about. It sent her Tachibana Makoto.

“Hey! You’re from Iwatobi too, right? Are you stuck there? Because I can take you home, if you want.” He smiled at her, and for a few seconds, she stared at him and wondered just what dark magic he practiced because the way his eyes lit up was abnormally captivating.

——

She couldn’t get him out of her mind. “Stupid, stupid eyes. Stupid, stupid voice.”

She began cursing him, blaming him for not leaving her thoughts. But still, she couldn’t deny that she hated he was in another class. Then again, it would have made her school year harder. Maybe it was best to admire him from afar. He would have thought she was a freak, with her eyes following him around and all that.

“Stupid, stupid eye magnet.”

As if glued to his form, her eyes never missed the chance of seizing the perfect sight of Tachibana Makoto. She tried hard to mask her stalker instincts, but in some ways, it was a blessing. Blessing because her day would be made with his gentle smile or his laughing form.

Yet she would only realize later on, that this was also a curse.

——

Following Tachibana Makoto also meant following Nanase Haruka. The two were always together, like two peas in a pod. She found herself admiring Nanase’s tiny, almost microscopic, smile and deep blue eyes, but of course, he was no match to her Makoto.

Her eyes told her that Nanase loved mackerel, that he loved the water, that he rarely talked, and that he did well in his studies.

But they also told her that Makoto chided him on eating different foods more, that he hated it when Nanase got sick, that he was the one filling the silences when they walked together, and that he often studied with him.

Somewhere along the way, though, her eyes told a different story.

——

The first time she realized it, she tried her hardest to ignore the pain in her heart. Surely, she was wrong, right?

But her eyes… They never betrayed her. Following Makoto for almost three years now, she knew better than to doubt her sharp eyesight. This was the curse she had only started to see.

Still, she denied everything she knew. She denied the small sideway glances, the soft whispers in each other’s ears, the quick smiles and the faint blushes. 

Because maybe, if she denied enough, it wouldn’t be true anymore.

And maybe, if she denied enough, Makoto’s eyes would light up, not at him but at her. For one more time.

——

That day was just like any other. She would start her morning with a simple glance towards her Makoto as she passed by his classroom, then stare at him for minutes in the canteen and then finally follow him and Nanase silently as they walked home together.

And then, she found out, that afternoon, that she couldn’t deny things anymore.

How could she?

When her eyes followed Makoto’s lips softly touching Nanase’s.

When her eyes followed Nanase’s blush, and the words his lips formed.

“He said I love you..”

When her eyes followed Makoto’s bright eyes, and the words his lips uttered.

“He said I love you too, Haru-chan…”

She felt tears gracing her cheeks. She inhaled, trying to dissolve the metaphorical lump in her throat.

She quietly turned away.

——

She was an idiot.

She knew all along. Her eyes never did betray her. But her heart did. Her stupid foolish heart, for thinking that maybe Makoto would notice her. That maybe he’d smile at her again, like he did on that rainy day.

Her eyes had been telling the truth all along, that he never would smile at her the way he smiled at Nanase, that he was kind to everyone but he was kinder to his best friend, that she would never be as precious as Nanase was in his eyes.

She hated herself. For letting her heart cloud the truth.

Once again, her eyes followed him. But this time was different.

“I’ve followed you around for years, but maybe…”

Her eyes followed the quick kiss, the blushes, the shy smiles.

“Maybe it’s time I let you go.”

She turned around, and for the last time, she permitted herself to wish that she was in Nanase’s place, that she was Makoto’s everything.


End file.
